EUGENE, Ore. — A new community health center is now open in west Eugene, and it’s a first for that area.

The Brookside Clinic on the corner of 18th Avenue and Chambers Street is the fifth community health center in Lane County.

County health officials say when Medicaid expanded in January, it gave nearly 35,000 people in Lane County access to the Oregon Health Plan, overwhelming the current system and leaving thousands without a primary care provider.

The new clinic will likely serve as many as 6,000 of those members who’ve had a tough time finding a primary care provider.

“We’re already in Springfield, out on Martin Luther King, in the downtown core. And this was an underserved area,” said Alicia Hays, director of Lane County Health and Human Services.

“They will have access to primary care providers and then appropriate referrals to a range of services,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, (D-Oregon).

Lane County says Trillium played a crucial part in making the clinic possible.